"Let's roll," the stirring cry used by Todd Beamer when he and others encountered terrorists aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, should be a protected trademark, a foundation set up in his name said yesterday.

The Todd M. Beamer Foundation announced that it was seeking to trademark the phrase, hailed by President Bush in his State of the Union speech this week as "a new (American) ethic and a new creed."

"The foundation is very pleased that Todd's statement, 'Let's roll!', has become inextricably linked to him as an inspiration symbol of resolve," said Doug MacMillan, executive director of the Cranbury, N.J., foundation.

"The foundation is seeking legal protection of the words as a trademark, as well as control over the use of Todd's name and image, to ensure that any money raised from such use go to the children of the victims of Sept. 11 and not to those who seek only individual profit."

Beamer, 32, who lived in New Jersey but was a graduate of Los Gatos High School, was a passenger aboard Newark-to-San Francisco Flight 93 as it was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, the same day three other hijacked jetliners plunged into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Beamer and other passengers made phone calls to relatives and authorities, alerting them of the hijacking and saying they were making plans to fight back.

Beamer ended his conversation with a GTE operator by dropping his phone and saying, "Let's roll!" As he and other passengers apparently attacked the hijackers, the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., killing all 44 people on board.

Since then, the phrase has been the rallying cry for America's so-called war on terrorism against Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, his cadre of al Qaeda mercenaries and other terrorists.

set up the foundation to assist other children who lost parents on Flight 93.

MacMillan, who said Beamer was his best friend, said Lisa Beamer was not involved in the decision to seek trademark status for the phrase, nor will she and her family receive any of the money raised by the foundation.

In his speech to Congress Tuesday night, Bush said of the Sept. 11 events, the worst terrorist attack in history that took more than 3,000 lives:

"In a single instant, we realized that this will be a decisive decade in the history of liberty, that we have been called to a unique role in human events.

"This time of adversity offers a unique moment of opportunity, a moment we must seize to change our culture . . .

"For too long, our culture has said, 'If it feels good, do it.' Now, America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: Let's roll!"